Dan Barton Movies

Attending a group therapy session, Jim (James Garner) and Angel (Stuart Margolin) make the acquaintance of former mental patient Mary Jo Flynn (Joanne Nail). Insisting that her life is in danger because she has met a government spy who was being held against his will in a psychiatric hospital, Mary Jo has trouble convincing Jim of her plight--until he, too, finds himself up to his neck in peril. It all has something to do with a Chilean military coup, and a crisis of loyalty within a mob family...and this being The Rockford Files, the estimable Angel (Stuart Margolin) is mixed up in the intrigue! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

En route to Los Angeles to pick up a prisoner, Sgt. Ed Brown (Don Galloway) runs into trouble in a small town. Losing his temper with a pair of hostile local cops, Ed ends up booked on a misdemeanor, thrown into jail, and subjected to some rough treatment at the hands of the local constabulary. Realizing that he himself has been just as brutal with suspects in the past, Ed begins to question his future as a police officer. Ultimately, Ironside (Raymond Burr) shows up and offers to post bail--but Ed refuses, preferring to work out the situation by himself. Directed by star Raymond Burr, this is one of several Ironside episodes featuring an original song by Marty and David Paich, in this case "The Other Side", performed by James Griffin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"A computer can only give back what the human mind has put into it." So explained screenwriter James D. Buchanan when discussing the made-for-TV melodrama Paper Man. A group of five bright college students decide to take advantage of a computer glitch. Partly as a social experiment, partly as a prank, but mostly out of sheer boredom, the students feed phony data into the faulty computer, creating a human being who doesn't exist--complete with biographical background and credit-card history. Unfortunately, the computer spews forth the embodiment of Pure Evil--and by the end of the film, three of the five pranksters lie dead. An early example of the technothriller genre, Paper Man originally aired on October 12, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

FBI agent Rhodes (Stephen Brooks) goes undercover as a truck driver to locate the site where hijacked shipments of nitroglycerin are being sold to enemy spies. Teamed with trucker Carl Munger (Gerald S. O'Loughlin), who is being stongarmed into cooperating with the hijackers, Rhodes is ordered to drive a particularly volatile shipment of explosives over some extremely rough terrain. Meanwhile, Rhodes' every move is being monitored by his boss, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.)--who cannot move in and make an arrest without forfeiting the lives of everyone concerned!. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fugitive Richard Kimble (Richard Kimble) takes on a new alias, "Dick Lindsey", and a new job as handyman at the Bodin-Russet dog kennels. Owner Max Bodin (George Voskovec) is thinking about selling his operation, which greatly pleases his greedy daughter-in-law Cora (Nancy Malone), who has always despised both Bodin and the dog-breeding business. So anxious is Cora to get beyond Bodin's reach that she wihholds some crucial information about a prize breeding dog--an act of selfishness which could prove fatal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arriving at a ferryboat station with a prisoner (Michael Ferris) in tow, Paladin (Richard Boone) is waylaid by a crazed Frenchman named Devereaux (Alan Dexter), who holds Paladin at gunpoint and orders him to "wait." Soon thereafter, Devereaux takes three more people hostage, likewise telling them to wait until his employer arrives--and providing no further explanation of his actions. As the hours pass, each prisoner wonders if he or she is the one targeted for death by Devereaux's boss...while Paladin tensely awaits an opportunity (even a slim one!) to turn the tables on his captor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once again, Perry (Raymond Burr) handles a case way outside his normal "jurisdiction" of Los Angeles, when Ellen Sabin (Jody Lawrence) is charged with murdering her husbnad (Maurice Manson). In fact, Perry proves his client's innocence during the coroner's inquest, in which the key witness is a talking parrot named Casanova (voice supplied by Mel Blanc)! Based on a 1939 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, this is allegedly the first dramatic TV episode to feature a chalk outline of the victim's body at the murder scene, though there may have been a few precedents in various live telecasts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mac Hyman's hilarious barracks novel No Time for Sergeants was adapted for TV by Ira Levin in 1955, with newcomer Andy Griffith as bumptious Air Force draftee Will Stockdale. This TV version was soon afterward transformed into a Broadway play, and then a movie, again with Griffith in the lead. Brought to the Air Force base in handcuffs because his farmer father has been hiding his draft notices, good-natured Will becomes the target of ridicule for the other transcripts. Especially nasty is Private Irvin (Murray Hamilton), but Will is able to forgive him because he knows that Irvin is suffering from some mysterious disease called ROTC. Will's best pal is hot-headed private Ben (Nick Adams), who wants to be transferred to the Infantry and convinces Will to try for the same goal. Slowly becoming aware that the trusting, naïve Will may prove to be a troublemaker, career sergeant King (Myron McCormick), who wants nothing more out of life than a little peace and quiet, tries to keep Stockdale out of mischief by appointing him "PLO" -- Permanent Latrine Orderly, a dubious distinction in which Will takes enormous pride. Later on, King tries to pull strings to get Will transferred, succeeding only in losing his sergeant's stripes. The story goes off on a zany tangent when Will and Ben find themselves on a crippled plane in flight. They manage to escape with their lives, but all evidence suggests that they've been killed in the plane's crash. Imagine the dismay of newly reinstated Sergeant King when Will and Ben show up in his office -- just as the entire base is gathered for a memorial service for the two "fallen heroes." Featured in a minor role as a "coordination officer" is Griffth's future TV cohort Don Knotts, while Sammy Jackson, who played Stockdale in a 1964 sitcom version of No Time for Sergeants, shows up in an unbilled bit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Working out of Homicide, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when accountant Ada Fitzgerald is found in her office, beaten to death with a lead pipe. Although the office was left in a shambles, it does not appear that robbery was the motive for the crime. Following the trail of clues, the two detectives come up with a brace of likely suspects: The victim's embittered ex-husband, and a drunk who has been regaling his fellow barflies with some not-so-tall tales about murder. Familiar Dragnet supporting player Virginia Gregg appears as a terrified cleaning lady. This first episode of Dragnet's fifth TV season was adapted from a radio broadcast originally heard on February 23, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) is the kind of man who wants to marry an old-fashioned girl, one who will stay home and take care of her husband. However, he's fallen in love with Priscilla "Effie" Effington (Deborah Kerr), who has an exciting career with the State Department that she has no intention of giving up. Clemson has the poor timing of proposing marriage to Effie just as she's in the middle of trying to resolve a major political crisis with the Middle Eastern nation of Bukistan; the United States wants to stay on Bukistan's good side, thanks to their plentiful reserves of oil. Tired of waiting for Effie, Clemson decides that he needs to find a potential bride who will follow his lead instead of her own, and he soon meets Princess Tarji (Betta Saint John), daughter of the King of Bukistan, who has spent her life learning to faithfully serve her man. Clemson half-seriously sends a telegram proposing marriage to Tarji, which touches off a political tempest in a teapot when Tarji responds by visiting the United States. The State Department decides that someone should look after Tarji while she's in America, and who should be given the assignment but Effie; to Clemson's chagrin, Effie uses her time with Tarji to enlighten her about the more liberated status of women in the West. By the way, don't bother looking for Bukistan in your atlas, the country doesn't really exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Using elements of two earlier films, The Fleet's In and Lady Be Careful, Paramount came up with the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis vehicle Sailor Beware. As usual, Jerry Lewis is the helpless goof and Dean Martin the suave ladies' man; this time Lewis is a navy recruit while Martin is his submarine-officer buddy. The film skips from one comic setpiece to another (the best is a parody of radio audience participation shows) until it reaches the slapstick climax: A boxing match pitting Lewis against the navy champion. After a few very funny moments in which Lewis pretends to be a punch drunk pug, the match commences, much to the dismay of Lewis and the delight of his fervent fan following. Martin makes good use of his screen time by romancing an "ice princess" movie star (Corinne Calvert), who of course melts once Dino turns on the charm. Betty Hutton, star of Sailor Beware's precursor The Fleet's In, pops up at the beginning and end of the Martin/Lewis epic as "Hetty Button." And watch for an unbilled James Dean as one of the team's shipmates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide